Sunday, 3 November 2013

Vanilla butter biscuits

I’ll admit these don’t look much, but they taste delicious;
such a light crumbly texture fragrant with vanilla and so buttery your mouth
comes alive! They would’ve looked better
if I’d managed to pipe them all but I wasn’t up to it – the dough was just too thick for my
puny grip to control. I tried to soften
the mix with hand heat, only putting half the mix in the bag etc...but nothing
helped. My grip let me down; I always
sympathise with competitors who suffer the same affliction on World’s Strongest
Man (a Christmas programme I have adored since early childhood!).

Before my hands packed up, I managed to pipe four
and they do look prettier. Next time I
might add a dash of milk to the mix to slacken it. A wide star nozzle is best for this task.

I thought it might be timely to feature this recipe
because, not only are they lovely to eat with a cup of tea, but they are the
perfect biscuit to serve alongside mousse type desserts. We are fast approaching that time of year (I won’t use the word, in case it causes upset!)
when such desserts might be made and served.

I used vanilla paste because I love the little
flecks of seeds visible in the finished biscuit. Vanilla extract would give the same flavour
and many now contain the seeds. Use
whatever you have; no point getting precious about it!

I was tempted to drizzle a little melted chocolate
across the biscuits to jazz them up, but time got the better of me. I think they are an excellent blank canvas
and could take many different types of decoration or additions.

Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla – you cannot
overbeat it at this stage so, if using, while the mixer’s doing its work
prepare your piping bag with a large star tip.

Stir in the flour.

Now, at this point you have two options: you
can put the mix into a piping bag and pipe into pretty rosettes (use a big star
nozzle), or take scant teaspoons and roll into balls, flattening them once on
the baking sheet. I found the dough too
thick to pipe but I have grip issues with my hands so it might have been me
being puny!

Leave a little space around each biscuit –
they only expand a little during baking.

Bake for 12 minutes and then turn the
trays. They may need a further 5
minutes, or until they are golden and feel firm to the touch. They will continue to firm on cooling.

My mum used to bake these for us! She either coated the bases in dark chocolate or sandwiches them together with jam. I remember her calling them viennese biscuits. I seem to remember the mix was very stiff!

I could easily devour a few of these with a cuppa. I love how aromatic vanilla biscuits are. They make a lovely waft from the cake tin.

You have no idea how excited I am to find a female world's strongest man fan! We seem to be few and far between. My family love watching it at christmas, it's the only programme we all agree on! I still have a soft spot for Magnus Samuelsson ;)

Read my novel! Yes! I wrote it!

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So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

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I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
I spend far too much time watching Spongebob Squarepants and would love to try a Krabby Patty...I know, I know - it's not real.